The Raft
The episode launches with the traditional previous episode recap. Robot launches a rocket/probe leading to an explosion. Miraculously the space probe explodes and returns in a giant ball of flaming rock. Penny and Will are saved by their father. Despite the descending fireball, they are miraculously unscathed. Later, Dr. Smith informs the family he is writing a book regarding the "social psychology of galactic castaways." Don is working on the ship when he discovers some fuel missing. John and Don immediately jump to their own reasonable conclusions accusing Dr. Smith. Don even places his hand on his throat before Will interrupts with the facts. Will admits he used too much of it on his own space probe experiments. The family needs that fuel and until they come up with an alternative they will be "galactic castaways forever." By the way, Smith actually does tell the truth there and gets no apologies from Don for the throat choke. John and Maureen discuss the four states of matter: gas, solid, liquid and plasma. John has a plan to create a "propellant" implementing his scientific knowledge base. Maureen says she understands and John condescends to his scientist-wife "no you don't." John and Don test a plasma test engine. The experiments are going very well. The kids can't wait to tell Dr. Smith. John and Maureen look into the night sky with a touch of romance. John insists that if they do get the Jupiter 2 back into space they wouldn't head back to Earth. He envisions making another effort to find Alpha Centaur. He's a true dreamer and man of vision. Back in Smith's quarters, Dr. Smith is listening to reel to reel tapes of his own voice discussing psychological issues for the book he is penning. Earlier he is writing on paper. Now he has stacks of reel to reel cans. Perhaps he is transferring his writings to audio, otherwise it is a continuity issue. It's actually kind of comical to see Smith listening to himself, agreeing and disagreeing with his own observations as they are played back. Smith clearly plans his exit for Earth rather than the family's desired goal of finding Alpha Centauri. A family meeting points to the family's destination of Alpha Centauri. Dr. Smith makes it clear he wants to return to Earth. Our fearless astronauts commence testing of the main thrusters of the Jupiter 2. The power gauge that's what it's called marks quite clearly things could go awry if the needle enters the DANGER ZONE! It's clearly marked. Explosions indicate things did not go well. They break out the fire extinguishers. After the explosion is over, Smith says to Don, "Your persistence is admirable Major, but your competence is non-existent." Angered, Don tells Smith, "How would you like a punch in the nose?" And Don doesn’t mean it as a question. Smith replies, "I even question your ability to do that." Will comes up with a brilliant idea. Although slightly dangerous, denoted by the radioactive symbol, the family decides on using the Reactor Unit Core as a raft. Don goes into the core, which is clearly radioactive, whilst the door opens to expose everyone in the surrounding area. Anyway he sprays some spray to get rid of the radioactivity. Radioactive repellent? Not to mention, John sticks his head right in there. There are certainly not a good many precautions taken. The family works night and day on the Reactor Unit. Dr. Smith has other plans. Maureen says goodbye to Don and tells him how much they will keep him in their thoughts as he will man the space Raft soon. Dr. Smith schemes by using Robot to assemble information. Don is in his quarters resting when Judy goes to visit him at his bedside. She is looking very attractive in her jammies. She brings him a gift. They look lovingly at each other, but that’s about it. Will goes to the Reactor Unit and finds Smith coming out of the core. Will scolds Smith for going into the core when it is clearly off limits. The Robot is on guard, but clearly not doing a great job. He is holding the rope to keep the Raft anchored. Smith programs the Robot with the code word "castoff" in order for him to escape on the raft. However, Smith inadvertently says the word with Will aboard. Suddenly, the Robot says "you said 'castoff'" and releases the Raft. The helium balloons lift it skyward and then the plasma propulsion engaged. Away they go. Dr. Smith is not unhappy about the early departure. The plasma propulsion engages and the balloons detach. Don suspects the automatic controller should keep them safe. Will should know what to do as he was involved in every phase of the project. Smith sleeps aboard the Raft on their journey. Will tries contacting Jupiter 2 while Smith sleeps. Smith dubs the boy's call "naughty, naughty." Smith is comical with his eased and relaxed manner concerning their situation. He motions Will to reach for a sandwich. He needs a bite to eat. Scanners indicate something is headed for their Raft. Smith gets worried and relinquishes his role as Captain to First Officer Will Robinson. Will looks into the scanner only to witness a line and a red blip. There is absolutely no data to work with. He looks out the Reactor Unit window and notes a planet. Now, there's more visual information than the scanners could offer. Smith believes it is Earth. Will doesn't recognize the stars. Smith sees North America and the Great Lakes. Will doesn't see them, but he sees something apparently. Will fires retro rockets! I don't have any idea what retro rockets. Will utilizes a steering system inside the Reactor Unit. They land. Smith is overjoyed by the smooth landing. He is ready to open the door, but Will instructs him to relax because they don't know if it's Earth yet. Oxygen and Nitrogen levels are fine. The planet is desolate, but Smith is certain they are in the Dakotas or Wyoming. He tells Will to pack a small lunch. They venture off only to run into a two-headed creature of some alien variety. Will notes they don't have any kind of vegetation on Earth like that to the two-headed creature slash man in a creature costume. Smith walks over to it and indicates it is nothing more than "a harmless but overgrown specimen of the common or garden variety of skunk cabbage." Will has his doubts that the planet they are now on is hardly home. Will worries and hopes Dr. Smith will look after him like his father. Clearly, Will has big expectations. Smith offers to carry him piggy-back. As they walk away the "skunk cabbage" springs to life and follows them complete with grunting monster noises. Smith talks of a population explosion and Will jokes it doesn't look like it exploded in their neck of the woods. They reach a dead end. Behind them the deadly vegetation closes off their path leaving them no way out. Back at the Jupiter 2, the family worries. Every effort is being made to reach Dr. Smith and Will. They are receiving a core signal which informs John that the Reactor Unit must have landed back on Priplanis. They have to be somewhere on Priplanis. Priplanis is the name of the planet that the Robinsons are crashed upon. Back on another part of Priplanis, Will and Smith try to come up with a plan. Will and Smith begin digging a tunnel in the dirt with a bottle opener. Suddenly the monster reveals itself to them. "Still think we're back on Earth?" asks Will. John Robinson makes haste to find Will in the Chariot and Don in the jet pack. The search is on. Robot is once again folded up and along for the ride in the Chariot. John asks Will to answer if he can hear them. Meanwhile, Will tries to talk with the grunting monster to find out what it expects of them. They begin munching on untested grapes. Suddenly the bush that contained the grapes begins to grab ahold of them. Smith is stuck in the plants. Will tries to radio Jupiter 2 and reaches his father. Apparently they have found the Reactor Unit, but need to know which way they headed. Will tells them there is a funny "bush creature" before they sign off. Inexplicably Smith gets out of the bush and inexplicably the two-headed bush creature suddenly begins attacking them going in for the kill. John arrives and shoots the creature in the back with his laser pistol. Good thing he brought his laser pistol. The creature drops to the ground. John begins describing why the Reactor Unit couldn't go far enough. It just didn't have enough power. So no one is going anywhere. Smith says, "oh well gentlemen, back to my book." Category:Episodes Category:Episodes in Season One